Uncommon Ground
by Athenian Affinity
Summary: The life of a backpacker is all about the element of surprise. Roxas is about to find this out the hard and somewhat painful way, as he gets himself lost and found on the road of life. Shonen ai. Akuroku.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts – hence the lack of pervyness in the actual game. I also don't own a Country, city, town, historic sight, landmark, etc. Anything mentioned in this fic isn't mine, but probably exists all the same.

**Warnings: **Shonen-ai (boys loving boys!), a bit of language, drinking, dodgies, hmm…hostels?

**Spoilers: **None – this is set completely in an Alternate Universe (which seems to bare remarkable resemblance to the real world). You have been pre-warned.

**Author's Notes: **See end of chapter!

**Dedications: **Anyone ever stayed in a hostel? This one's dedicated to you! Especially to the group I hosteled with in 05, you guys know who you are.

Uncommon Ground 

_**Chapter 1.**_

Wow.

Just… wow.

It was really the only word he could use to describe the feeling achieved when standing in front of Buckingham Palace, thousands of miles away from home and all by himself.

His mental processes turned the word over again, just for good measure.

Wow.

He _could _say that he had always expected to be standing there, alone in a crowd, and with a giant backpack on his back and a camera dangling from the hand. But it would be a big, nasty lie.

The truth is that he had very nearly chickened out of getting on the plane the previous night. Not to say he hadn't had a good deal of certainty on the way to the airport. It was upon arriving at the airport that things took a nasty slide downhill. Terminals messed with the average person's head. They really did.

He had been so incredibly sure that there wouldn't be a problem leaving for Europe by himself. And it was that very fact alone that should have sent big, flashing warning signals off.

The reality is that if there really isn't a problem, then you shouldn't have to keep telling yourself that everything is going to be perfectly okay, over and over again.

He had bravado in plenty, not bravery. That is where there was a difference between him and his brother. His brother Sora would have jumped at the chance to go traveling all by himself. He probably wouldn't even _be _by himself after about five minutes on the airplane, making friends in unusual places was practically his gift. No doubt, if he had been the one on the flight instead of Roxas, he'd have made an army of friends to go touring with.

But Roxas wasn't Sora. And when he stood in line to check-in his bag at the airline he started having doubts.

'Doubts' doesn't even scratch the surface. 'Panic' would be a slightly more accurate term, but without sugar coating his internal struggles one would be more apt to call it a 'full blown freak-out'.

Standing in a crowded lineup, bag in one hand and passport in the other suddenly didn't seem like such a smart idea. It had seemed _terrifying. _

So he said to himself, _'Okay Roxas, it's just a little trip to Europe by yourself, what's the big deal? You'll get to stay in hostels with strangers, and eat weird food, and fight off the pickpockets, and maybe the plane will crash into the ocean…' _

His inner motivational speaker always did kind of suck.

The only saving grace present was his brother. Sora was very happy that Roxas would be leaving for the summer, as it meant he would get the use of a much larger bedroom.

Truthfully, he was more than happy, he was _ecstatic._

"_Don't worry about it! You'll have so much fun!" _He had told him, noticing the fact that Roxas had gone from a pasty white color, to an even pastier vampire color in the span of a few seconds.

"_Think of all the cool people you'll meet! And you'll be able to 'find yourself' or whatever it is you keep talking about."_

Yep, that was Sora. Forever the optimist, forever the happy-go-lucky kind of guy, and for good or for bad, forever his brother.

He shoved Roxas towards the counter, and after that he actually had to shove him through the security check.

When Roxas finally did get seated on the plane he was lucky enough to have a window seat facing the terminal he had just come from. And Sora was still there, waving frantically from the big viewing window, and holding up an improvised cardboard sign, wishing him a _'Bon Voyage'._

So Roxas put on a brave face, which really just looked the same as a constipated face, but without all the noises to go with it. And he flew off to Europe, just like that.

And now there he was, standing in front of the palace on a balmy Monday afternoon.

He hadn't actually had the opportunity to _talk _to any of the people there yet, not unless you included the guy at the airport who stamped the passports, but he really didn't count. Plus, he didn't even have a real British accent!

And the bus ride from Heathrow Airport to Buckingham Palace had happened in silence. Painful, pin-drop silence. Roxas had been happy to get the hell off the bus as soon as it stopped at the popular tourist destination. Too many people surrounded by that amount of quiet worried him, and the fresh air that hit him when he stepped out of the confined space and into the open was a much needed relief.

The sights and sounds of the roaming groups of tourists painted a picture perfect scene. One that would be ideal for the cover of a travel guide; the sort of guide that pledged budget travel for the adventure seeker and only delivered mid-priced hotels and pretty stately homes. That also happened to be the type of guidebook that Roxas swore by with an almost religious zeal.

In fact he was almost certain that gracing the cover of one of his favorites _was _a picture of the outside of Buckingham Palace. He dropped his backpack and rummaged in it until he found what he was looking for: _'England For The Uninitiated' _it proclaimed. Followed up by sugary lines about 'cost effective travel' and 'easy maps to read'. Even Roxas could tell it was utter bullshit, but he still felt a sort of attachment to the guide.

Without it he would be lost. And without a directions for a hotel to boot.

But he had his guidebook. And more importantly he had an itinerary that would make most accountants go into near orgasmic throes. It was just that good.

It was better than good – it was _great! _Roxas had spent weeks coming up with it, holed away in his bedroom behind a computer screen. Blood, sweat and tears had gone into its making and Roxas affectionately thought of it as a traveler's _thesis. _The schedule was flawless. Not only did it have a daily agenda for Roxas, listing the 'where, when and how' he should be somewhere, but it even went so far as to have an _hourly _timeline.

'_So I can see as much as possible in three weeks.' _Roxas thought, as he put his guidebook away and pulled out the itinerary.

' After tour of Buckingham Palace, leave for _Backpacker's Haven _hostel by Taxi.' He read the bold print of the sheet he'd made for London, and set off to follow it word for word.

Several hours later he found out the truth about hostels. It is a bitter truth. The short of it is that if it _seems _too good to be true, then it probably is. In the case of the 'Backpacker's Haven', the price made it seem like a heaven, but it was really just a hell.

"It's a cesspit." Roxas mumbled under his breath, looking up at the derelict building fronting the busy road. Several levels of wood sided roach infestation loamed over his head, with one door on the main floor as the entrance. The _door _had the look of a secured entrance on a _prison cell, _not that he really had any idea what one would look like.

"You sure you'll be okay rooming here?"

Roxas turned to see the cabbie who dropped him off giving him a _look. _And to be honest, it worried the blond a little – it had something in common with the look Roxas once gave Sora at age six when the brunet said he had drank the blue liquid that was underneath the kitchen sink.

"Uh, yeah. I think I'll survive." Roxas answered in an even tone, although the cab driver's look of disbelief didn't waver in the slightest.

"Right kiddo, take it easy here. You'll see the odd dodgy from time to time, so it's best to just stay clear of 'im."

After Roxas handed him his payment, he drove off with a quick wave.

_Dodgy?_

What the hell did that mean?

He was about to brave the hostel and ask the front desk clerk just what the hell 'dodgy' was and whether or not it was something to be worried about it, but the 'dodgy' found Roxas instead.

Because, as he stood there in front of the craptastic building he failed to notice the car barreling towards him in reverse. _If_ Roxas had dodged out of the way, then the whole lesson in 'dodgyness' could have been merely a theoretical one.

Since he didn't dodge from the reverse traffic, the only thought that had time to go through his mind was '_fuck'_

Followed by a feeling of intense pain.

And as he looked up to the darkening sky, with the cold asphalt beneath his prone form and thoughts of death rolling through his mind Roxas saw 'dodgy'.

"Holy shit! Dude are you alright?" Said a blurring vision of red and spikes and black. Roxas had always hoped he'd be going to the other place, but all the red colors begged to differ in a most unsettling way.

"Satan?"

And then true darkness claimed him.

**Chapter endnotes: **I'll try and update this at least every week, so until that time reviews are always welcome! I love constructive criticism, or even just a few quick words to let me know what you thought.

As for the story itself: The idea hit me very suddenly one day, mid-step in fact. I knew I had to write it, and so far it seems to pretty much write itself – which is kickass. My obsession with Europe and travel has been with me for awhile, although I sadly haven't actually been across the pond yet. The little car 'incident' in this chapter was a plot device I've had in my head for awhile now. I never thought it would offer enough to write about in a one shot, so I was really happy to incorporate it into a multi-chaptered fic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **It pains me deeply to tell you this _but_…Kingdom Hearts is not mine, so no suing the poor fan fic writer!

**Warnings: **Eventual shonen-ai, language, drinking, and…insanity?

**Spoilers: **None, but AU abounds.

**Notes: **Well I'm in the middle of a move right now, so I figured I better get chapter two up while I have time to do so. A big thank-you goes to my reviewers: you guys rock!

Uncommon Ground 

_**Chapter 2.**_

Light hit Roxas' eyes with the force of a train hitting a person's brain – or perhaps it had more similarity to a car hitting someone? Either way, it hurt like a colossal bitch.

"Sleeping Beauty has awakened." Someone said beside him in such a cocky self-assured tone that Roxas immediately had the urge to punch whoever it was in the face. Curious, Roxas quickly turned his head to get a good look at who the hell the annoying bastard was.

Very. Bad. Idea.

"My head!" The sudden movement brought on the worst pain he had felt since being hit by the car. The reality being that his two most painful experiences in life happened one after the other – minus that zipper incident from years back.

"Does it hurt?" A profile came into view, and once again he came face to face with some ass-hole who mows down people on the side of the street. The guy had bright crimson hair, a cocky smirk, and just to piss off Roxas a little more – height.

Not Satan though, as Roxas had previously believed. The devil would have been less annoying.

"No shit it hurts." Roxas mumbled in reply, raising a hand to feel the top of his poor abused cranium, only to feel a bandage wrapped there.

"They say it's just a concussion, so you're the luckiest son-of-a-bitch around here." The person he liked to think of as 'not-quite-Satan' said amiably, patting him on the arm.

"Just a concussion my ass."

"_Oh and what splendid news! And here I thought I was going to die! Why thank-you for telling me this Axel, you've given me hope!" _The strange visitor flailed around the room for a minute and did a very frightening falsetto – Roxas wasn't impressed. He so did NOT sound like that!

"So," Roxas began, after a moment to process what must have happened. "You hit me with your car?"

A worried look made itself apparent on the other guy's face and Roxas congratulated himself on a job well done – freaking out the stranger with that one little word that didn't even need to be said. Lawsuit.

"Now kid, you've got it all wrong. I watched some complete idiot knock you off your feet with their car and drive away! You're just lucky I was there in time to revive you!"

"What? You resuscitated me?"

He nodded his head once, emerald green eyes twinkling brightly in what looked suspiciously like mirth. "Yeah, you had stopped breathing."

The most horrible imagery came to play in the inner theatre of Roxas. It involved him laying prone on the pavement, most likely dying, and some sick bastard trying to give the breath of life…probably grabbing places he shouldn't have! A little grope here, a little tongue there…

"Oh hell no!"

"Yeah," He went on encouragingly, "it's true. I thought you were a goner, but a little mouth to mouth can work wonders! Hey, stop that!"

Roxas was trying to get up. Not getting very far mind you, but there was an effort being made to get away from the psycho rapist. He propped himself up by his arms and nearly got his legs over the edge of the bed before being stopped by the enemy. Well, the excruciating pain also played a _minor _roll. That is what Roxas kept telling himself.

"You should stay in bed." He had the nerve to wave a finger in front of the blond's face, like you see parents do to toddlers reaching for the stove. "If you want something you just have to ask!" He gave Roxas a gentle shove on the chest, sending him crashing back to the mattress he had just tried to escape from. Roxas let out a dejected sigh.

He hadn't come to Europe for this! Nowhere in 'finding oneself' do you find 'get hit by car' followed by 'get molested in foreign hospital.' Roxas suddenly wished he had his cell phone on hand so he could phone his family. Let them know he was alive – well sort of alive.

His rather odd visitor pulled up one of those cheap, plastic hospital chairs and sat down near the bed, legs stretched out in front of him like he owned the place. Bones and joints making cracking and popping sounds one right after another. Roxas had the sudden urge to shudder, but didn't for fear of inducing more head pain.

"I can see we've gotten off to a bad start." The taller man said in a conciliatory tone, offering his hand to Roxas, who shock it – albeit hesitantly.

"I'm Axel. All around backpacking extraordinaire, cheapo tourist, and now thanks to you…life-saver!"

"Roxas." Was the only grumbled response, offered after he had snatched his hand back from Axel. He didn't want him to get any sick and twisted ideas.

"Well Roxas, it's nice to meet you, just too bad it couldn't be under _better_ circumstances." He gestured around the austere hospital room. White walls, white sheets, white partitions around the beds – the room felt like a living memento of the death of creativity. Not to mention all the sick, injured and seriously old people lying in beds.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Hmm…" Axel glanced down at the time on his watch. "You've only been out for about four hours. It's just after eight-o-clock now."

"How long do I have to stay here?" Roxas didn't think he could handle staying in the place much longer, which was saying something considering he had only been conscious of his surroundings for a few minutes.

Axel got up from his seat and started to walk away. "I'll go ask a doctor, just sit tight."

Like he was really going to run off somewhere?

In the meantime Roxas gave a thorough once-over visual to all the medical equipment; all the pointy do-hickys and gadgets that keep people from calling it a permanent day. And that was a good idea until the old lady in the bed next to him started to glare, obviously not liking the fact that her IV was being eyed up. He shifted his gaze to someone sleeping. Or were they dead?

"Roxas, what are you looking at?" Axel was back by the bedside and followed his gaze to the man lying in the bed across the room.

"He's just sleeping Rox."

"Not dead?"

"Hmm…well you never know, but I doubt it. Anyways the doctor said he'd be in here shortly, but it sounds like you'll probably need to stay here overnight."

The overnight stay turned out to be true, as the physician in charge had no intention of releasing Roxas until the following afternoon. Roxas begged, pleaded, and eventually got angry, but to no avail – the decision was final.

"Of course, the police will want to have a word with you tomorrow before we release you." The elderly doctor had mentioned, with such nonchalance that he could have been commenting on a new pair of pants.

"Police?" Roxas asked, bewildered.

"Why yes, of course." The doctor took a look a Roxas' confusion and elaborated. "The hit and run."

The words 'hit and run' stood out loudly in the conversation, and Axel hadn't moved from his sitting position next to the bed. He was working at a look of complete neutrality, and so far it seemed to be working. Except for a bit of an eye-twitch that had made itself apparent. Roxas realized he'd been looking to see what kind of reaction there would be, and quickly turned away before Axel caught him staring.

"Well, I'll have a nurse check in on you in a little while. Be prepared for some paperwork though." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You have traveler's insurance?" A few lines become extra-furrowed on his already craggy face as he awaited the answer. Indeed nobody wanted to be caught dead traveling abroad without being insured up the proverbial ass – the physician _knew _this from bitter experience.

'Well, at least I have one thing covered.' Roxas thought, before nodding his head in the affirmative. He may have been struck down and stuck in a white cell, but he was damn well not paying for it out of his own pocket!

The doctor smiled. "Excellent. I'll be seeing you later." And with that he quickly took his leave. Much the way Roxas wished he could be doing.

"I fucking hate this." He mumbled after a moment of silent reprieve. No touring, no long lineups and cheap hostels and even cheaper food – just badly flavored Jell-O.

"Well, kiddo, I'm sorry I got you laid up in here."

"You're admitting it now?" He stared incredulously at the redhead. Axel for his part was staring in every other direction other than his.

"What? Just like that you admit to backing into me and practically crushing me into the pavement?"

"I suppose, yeah, something like that." Axel yawned hugely. "I'll admit I'm pretty shity at driving a standard. Add in the whole 'left side of the road thing' and damn – I just suck. I wasn't even planning on driving, but they were giving sweet deals on rentals."

He cut his drawn out explanation short when he saw the glint in his victim's eyes. If looks could kill, Axel would have been long gone.

"I. Fucking. Hate. You." The words were pronounced very slowly, and with such clarity as there to be no confusion in the matter. "The reason I'm stuck in here is because you got a deal on a car rental! And you can't even drive!" He threw up his hands. "I can't believe it! I honestly cannot believe it!"

Axel busied himself rummaging in a big black and red backpack by his side. "You want a magazine to read or something?" Several magazines were pulled out of the bag and handed over without an answer.

"What kind are they?"

"You're going to hate me for this but…"

Roxas starting flipping through the pages before Axel could explain.

"Joy." Roxas mumbled sarcastically, reading the print on the bottom of a particularly nice photo of Trafalgar Square. "I can't actually go and see the sights, so I'll just drive myself to insanity by obsessing over the pictures." He flipped another page. "And articles."

"Hey, at least you'll be out of here by tomorrow. Then you can see everything you want."

But Roxas wasn't listening to anything being said, already too enthralled in the travel guides. There was information on everything – not just London. Manchester and York, Dublin and Edinburgh, Paris, Milan, Rome….even Prague. The sudden interest in the magazines wasn't lost on Axel, who decided to peek over Roxas' shoulder and see what had him so captivated.

"Venice?"

"I wish." Another page turned. "But Italy's too expensive." He scanned an article on pubs in Ireland and continued. "The same goes for Switzerland – too pricy." The previous bad mood was gone, much to Axel's amusement. Perhaps he wouldn't be prison bait after all!

"Where are you planning on going then?" Axel had a gut feeling it would be a little bit of England, France, and Germany. He couldn't really rationalize the reasoning, except that it seemed to fit the bill. That and the fact that he was a strong believer in fate. Well not _fate, _in a heavy, predetermined sense. Just the belief that when things started to seem weird they generally stayed that way – and since he planned on going to those Countries, it made some sort of sense (in a crazy way) that Roxas would be going there too. After all, he did hit the kid with a car.

It didn't get much weirder then nearly killing a fellow backpacker.

"Hmm…Well I was planning on staying here in London for a few days. Not that I'm going to be getting much sight-seeing in." He glared again in Axel's direction. "After that I wanted to take a bus trip up to York and than maybe further north. Oh, and I want to see Stonehenge."

"Is that all?"

"Of course not! I have plans to go to Paris, Munich, Berlin, and Prague."

"Prague? You want to go there?"

Roxas nodded, wincing after the motion from the headache it brought on. "Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Prague."

"What about Amsterdam?" Axel couldn't imagine a trip to Europe without a stop-over in _that _city.

"And why would I want to go there?" Roxas handed the first magazine back to Axel, and started to read the second. It had more of an emphasis on mature tourists. The ones with money. Not him – probably not Axel. "From what I've heard that place is just one giant party slum. Not much to do there but get drunk and stoned."

"And don't forget the sex!"

"Right. I think I have a clearer picture now." Sighing he laid his head back down on the pillow. It was flat, and had the distinct smell of disinfectant. _'Someone probably died on it.' _Roxas thought. _'Probably got hit by a car.'_

"Well Axel. It's been…" _Nice? No. Fun? Hell no. _"Interesting. I think I'm going to sleep now. My head hurts, no thanks to you, and I'll have a busy day tomorrow playing catch-up."

The last thing he heard before drifting off into a dreamless sleep were the words 'G'night Roxas." Followed by. "I'll see you tomorrow." He could only hope that the last bit was his rattled brain messing around with him.

Naturally he was wrong.

**Author's Notes: **_Hi people! I hope that you are enjoying this story so far, and please, please leave a review and let me know what you thought; good bad or different. The next chapter Roxas will finally be out of the hospital – which I'm looking forward to writing because it gives me free-rein over Europe! Cackles So until then, happy fanfic reading. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts! All I have is random merchandise!

**Warnings: **Same old stuff – Slash, potty mouths, and European fun.

**Author's Notes: **Believe me, I DO realize how long it has been since I've updated this fanfic, and for that I am really, really, truly sorry. I could spout of the usual excuses, you know… 'I've been busy', or 'I moved', or more commonly 'work has been brutal'. So I will. Yes I have been busy, I really did move, and works been, well, work. Either way I shouldn't have waited so long between chapters. Gomen Nasai!

Uncommon Ground

_**Chapter 3.**_

Roxas' worst fears were confirmed the next morning. Axel was sitting beside the bed yet again, eating a bagel and looking positively _giddy._

"What's your problem?" He asked, still groggy from sleep, and not in the mood to be subjected to a happy Axel.

Axel ignored the question and instead handed a little brown paper bag to Roxas. "I figured the hospital food probably sucks."

Roxas opened the bag and took out the breakfast bagel, complete with egg and cheese in the middle. His mouth watered, and he wasted no time in biting into the calorie filled piece of goodness.

"Thanks", he mumbled between bites. "Why'd you stop back here?" He asked, already half-finished the bagel and feeling better about the upcoming day. "Do you really want to be around when I tell the police you're the one who ran me over."

"Are you going to tell them that?" Axel picked up a paper cup from on the floor and took a sip. His coffee to start the day. He offered it to Roxas, who declined.

"Probably not." Roxas admitted grudgingly. "It's not like I really have anything to gain by telling them." He added as an afterthought, mostly just to appease himself with the decision. He really _didn't _want to get Axel into trouble – in fact the thought of doing that made him feel vaguely uncomfortable. Something akin to guilt. It would have been different if Axel had willingly run him down and then drove off. But he didn't. It had been an accident, and he hadn't taken off anywhere.

"That's good to hear." He took another sip of coffee and smiled. "I was planning on checking out the Tower of London today and staying in a cheap hotel. Wanna tag along?"

"Will you be driving?" Roxas crumpled up the paper bag and aimed for a garbage can some distance away. He missed by a long shot. "'Cause if you're driving there's not a chance in hell I'd tag along."

Axel stood up and sauntered towards the door, stooping on the way to pick up the piece of trash Roxas has thrown. "Already taken care of." He said laughing. "I dropped it back at the rental place earlier this morning."

Without a backwards glance Axel left, languidly walking out the door with a casual "see you later," offered as he went.

Roxas didn't see him again until after lunch. Before that time he was questioned by an officer and badgered with paperwork. Both of which he would have happily done without. The official stand he took was that he didn't see the vehicle that hit him. He simply woke up in the hospital and would like to be on his way, thank-you very much.

The officer had looked skeptical, but had kept his mouth shut. He had enough work as it was and lived whole-heartedly by the motto 'if it ain't broke don't break it,' which was a relief to Roxas. Lying wasn't his specialty. It was telling the truth that he was a little to good at, much to other's annoyance.

Roxas was already dressed, signed-out and ready to go when Axel showed up again. Smirk on face and map in hand. "Shall we ditch this joint?" He had asked rhetorically, hitching up his own backpack a little higher.

Outside a light rain had started to fall, and Londoners had their umbrellas out and a grim determination in their steps. Nothing stopped them, especially not the ever common drizzle. Neither Axel nor Roxas carried an umbrella, it being far too big and impractical for a backpacker to keep in their bags, 'just incase.' So instead Roxas pulled on a light jacket, and Axel pulled the hood up on his black sweatshirt, and they continued on in the weather just like the locals did.

The two of them walked along the sidewalk in a companionable silence. Roxas' head still ached a bit, but it was nothing compared to its previous intensity from the day before, and with the low-dosage painkillers he had, things were starting to look up.

"So," Roxas began, finally growing sick of the quiet. "I've been meaning to ask. What the hell are those?" He pointed to Axel's face.

"What?"

"Those markings! Under your eyes!" Understand eventually dawned on Axel, and he raised a hand to touch the little teardrop markings under each eye. "These? They're tattoos."

Shaking his head incredulously, Roxas laughed in disbelief. "You got your face Tattooed? What the hell is wrong with you? Who the hell tattoos their face?"

Axel stopped in front of a small, stone faced building. "Well, me…naturally." He grinned. "But you must admit they're kickass."

The blonde didn't bother answering. He did think they were cool, in a strange sort of way. Not that he'd ever go out and get it done, but on Axel, they suited somehow.

Axel took the silence as an agreement and started walking again. "I've heard there's a cheap hotel a couple blocks down from here. Whadya say? Up for ditching our bags there?"

Roxas nodded. Truthfully Axel could have suggested the sleaziest homeless shelter in the city to stay at, as long as he could leave his backpack there. Somehow he had _thought _he had packed light. _Thought_ being the key word. After about fifteen minutes of wandering around Heathrow Airport trying to find the right exit he had officially decided that he had _way _too much stuff. Heavy stuff, mostly clothes he'd never get around to wearing.

Now the backpack was a major irritant, weighing down on him like a pile of rocks. Dropping it off sounded like a _very _good idea. "Yeah, that sounds good."

The hotel turned out to be not half bad. Certainly not a high-class luxury hotel, but clean and reasonably priced. Which was all they were after.

Roxas had his misgivings about staying in the same room as Axel, two twin beds or not. He'd heard stories. People waking up in the morning to find their newfound roommate gone – along with all of the money.

Luckily he had the rest of the day to find out if Axel was really a crook. Roxas took a little comfort in that. If by the end of the day he felt safe enough with the idea of sharing a room that didn't have a locker for his stuff, then he'd just have to risk it.

They checked in to the hotel, and dropped their backpacks in the room, exchanging them for much smaller, and thankfully _lighter_ daypacks. With maps, and money and cameras they set out for a tour of the ever popular Tower of London.

"The Tower of London is supposedly haunted you know." Axel said when they drew nearer to their first destination, and glimpsed its imposing walls and severe exterior. "I've heard," he added in a deep whisper, "that a lot of shit has been seen by visitors. Apparitions, creepy voices, little dead kids. The works."

Roxas suppressed a shudder and didn't say a word. When he was younger he had been convinced that an abandoned house in the neighborhood was haunted. To prove the point to his friends he had offered to sneak inside and spend an hour there at night. He had lasted a total of ten minutes before he had run out screaming, and Sora _still _wouldn't let him live it down.

He knew that the Tower had a bloody history. An intriguing one certainly, but gruesome and full of murder. But he really wanted to see the place. Ghosts or not, he wasn't about to let a bullshit story from Axel scare him out of seeing the imposing building. "Shut up." He finally told him. And Axel didn't mention a word of it after that, although every time Roxas risked a glance at his strange traveling companion he'd see a little knowing smirk on his lips. Axel knew his weak spot and it was pissing Roxas off.

"Can we take the guided tour?" Roxas asked, when they made it to the west gate entrance and stood with the queue. "I think we'll get lost if we go it alone." He added. It sounded like pathetic reasoning, even to Roxas, but the truth was even worse. Axel's talk of hauntings in the complex had him worried.

"Well, hmm…" Axel raised a finger to his chin in mock thought. "I suppose…" He drawled, leaving no doubt that he thought of it as an act of charity. "Since you don't want to wander around…_alone."_

"That's your fault. What are you? Five?" Roxas huffed. The lineup was long and he was not in the mood to deal with Axel's teasing.

"Close. Try twenty-one."

"What? You're twenty-one?" From the cavalier attitude and easy way of going Roxas had assumed Axel was probably just like him. Fresh out of high school.

"Right you are, kiddo! How else do you think they'd rent me a car?" He laughed at the look of shock still apparent on Roxas' face. "Oh, and I'm almost positive you're around eighteen? Right?"

"Right." He answered slowly. "Don't think you can push me around because of it." He added as an afterthought. Already Axel's non-stop pestering was making sense. He was _older._ Yet another reason why Roxas found him a tad too annoying.

The tour itself was actually fairly pleasant. Axel complained non-stop, but it was half-hearted at best. More of a ruse to irritate Roxas than anything else. Roxas also had the distinct impression that the other man liked to hear himself talk. It was incessant and pointless, and very quickly getting on his nerves.

"…and lo and behold. The CROWN JEWELS. Whadya think of that Rox? Roxas?"

Roxas had been ignoring him since the start of the tour. Unfortunately it hadn't been working very well. It seemed that the more Axel was disregarded the louder and more insistent he became.

He had remained pleasantly quiet during the first five minutes of the tour, as the Yeoman Warder leading the tour took the large group of tourists away from the Middle Tower and towards some of the more interesting sights.

Axel even had the decency to not make any comments of the 'let's scare Roxas' variety when they went below Wakefield Tower and into the Torture exhibit.

But, it was when there was a lull, or when something seemed particularly anti-climatic that Axel opened his mouth and started the running commentary.

And even Roxas had to admit, the Crow Jewels _were_ about as pro-tourist as you could get. Hell, there was a travelator that you had to stand on!

"Awe, look Roxas! They were being thoughtful of the weary tourist." Axel pointed at the slow moving conveyor and stepped on, grabbing the blonde by the wrist and dragging him along.

"Axel," Roxas finally said, after about forty-five minutes of silence. "Do you ever shut the hell up?"

"Nope."

"I thought not."

Somehow after the tour, pictures, and a walk over to Tower Bridge they still had time for a visit to St Paul's Cathedral.

Roxas had broached the idea hesitantly. Especially given Axel's penchant for making fun of tourist traps. Yet, amazingly he had agreed to the plan without complaint.

To get there they had opted for the underground 'Tube', which quickly got them nearer the famed cathedral. Just a short stroll from the terminal and they made it to the immense spectacle of domed architecture.

Roxas breathed in deeply when confronted with the building's grandeur. It was all much more awe inspiring than any picture in a guidebook.

Axel nudged Roxas in the arm, as the youth stood transfixed on the spot. "No guided tour this time, alright?"

Roxas nodded. No tour. Just the freedom to wander at leisure and view what they wanted to. The only problem was going to be deciding _what _exactly needed to be seen.

They spent their time traversing the main floor, looking at the ornately designed Baroque interior and selected artwork. Imposing arches and saucer domes were the focal point of the nave, making everything else seem miniscule by comparison.

Roxas would have been happy analyzing every little detail in the artwork and structure of the main level, but Axel's curiosity won out in the end. He grabbed the blonde by the arm and physically dragged him up the stairs towards the upper level Whispering, Stone, and Golden Galleries.

"I've heard about this." Axel said, upon entering the Whispering Gallery. The crowd in the cathedral was still a large one and there were plenty of visitors testing out the unusual acoustics of the area.

"I should hope so Axel." Roxas had a hand on the railing and was leaning over to get a good view of the level they had just come from. "I think everyone's heard of it." He turned let go of the railing and turned to look at Axel who was leaning indolently against the wall. The redhead pointed up, and looked questioningly at Roxas.

"Sure, I'd like to see the view from there."

From the Whispering Gallery, it was a climb of one-hundred and nineteen stairs to reach the Stone Gallery, and a further one-hundred and fifty two steps to witness the view from the Golden Gallery.

The final climb up to the tallest viewing area was steep and narrow. Axel went ahead and Roxas followed behind without any trepidation in his step. Nothing would stop him from getting the very best view London had to offer.

Peoples voices could be heard echoing up from the galleries below, and once, a touring group coming down from the top gallery had to pass by, making Roxas and Axel squeeze against the far side of the railing. But when they finally made it to the top and looked out over the expanse of London, they knew the trek up the stairs had been a very minor detail.

The view was fantastic.

And the rain was falling harder than ever, and the wind was whipping violently, causing both their hair to fly up on end – even more so than normal in Axel's case. And in all honesty the view from the top would have been _much _better on a sunny, peaceful day.

But it was still perfect.

Roxas dropped his daypack to the floor and fished around for a moment, pulling his cell phone out triumphantly. He dialed, held the phone up, and waited.

"Sora!"

Axel smiled despite himself, watching the blonde talk wildly to his brother on the phone, and for once look completely at ease.

"Sora, guess where I am?" He paused for a moment. "I'll give you a hint. I can see most of London right now!"

And while the phone call went on for several minutes, Axel merely took in the sights from that far up vantage point and marveled at the sudden strangeness.

He really _liked _seeing Roxas happy. It was almost as fun as pissing him off.

_Almost._

_**A/N: Reviews are like my version of candy, I swear!! Hint Hint**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Well, since I'm obviously not making a profit off of this, I think it's safe to assume I don't own it!

**Warnings: **Eventually slashy goodness of the Akuroku variety, adult language and situations, and oh-so-mature themes.

**Author's Notes: **Well this is a rather quick update – just don't get too used to it! I was wondering what you guys thought of some eventual implied Zemyx in this. I have a few ideas for where it could go, and I think it might be, well, cute. Let me know what you think.

Uncommon Ground

_**Chapter 4.**_

Roxas tried to sleep.

At first, when it became apparent that sleep just wasn't happening he tried resorting to the usual techniques.

Sheep counting failed – miserably.

Next he had tried simply envisioning an empty room, letting it fill with whatever came to mind and attempting to lull himself into the land of nod.

That one didn't stand a chance of working anyways. Finally he had just given up and opted to turn over to see what his roommate was doing. Although sleeping would have been the educated guess.

Something else might have been the perverted guess, but Axel wasn't _up _to that either.

As far as Roxas could tell he was sleeping soundly in the twin bed opposite. Red hair tousled, arms and legs sprawled about, and eyes closed. Typical sleep behavior. Actually Axel looked just a bit too tall for the bed, his legs hanging over the edge of the mattress just a little.

Roxas sighed and was about to try another attempt at sleeping when something stopped him.

Axel was sitting up, throwing back the covers, and getting out of the tiny hotel bed.

"Axel?"

There was no response. Roxas sat up and flicked on the bedside lamp. The room was drenched in abrupt brightness, and he had to squint for a moment before he could see straight.

"Axel?" He tried again, but to no avail. The redhead wasn't looking at him, but was instead seemingly focused on the hotel room door. Not that it was a very interesting door to look at.

"Are you awake?" Roxas asked, crawling out of bed and making his way over to Axel cautiously, but before he managed to get there Axel unlocked the door and wandered out into the hallway.

'What the hell?' Roxas thought, quickly following after him, clad only in a pair of black boxers and a white tee-shirt. He didn't bother worrying about putting a pair of shoes on, as it was, Axel was wearing even less.

The hallway was dotted with numbered room doors, and lit overhead by bright fluorescent bulbs, which hurt Roxas' unaccustomed eyes.

'Is he on drugs?' Roxas wondered silently, watching as his roommate stumbled along in a daze. Axel was now near at the end of the hallway, and was staring out the only window, a total lack of awareness showing in his presence.

He didn't flinch when Roxas walked up behind him and tapped him gently on the arm. Didn't even move when the younger blonde had resorted to pinching him on the neck.

Finally, growing impatient, Roxas hauled off and smacked Axel. Hard. Right across the back of the head.

"Wha…?"

"You were sleepwalking!" Roxas jabbed him in the center of his bare chest to emphasize the point further. Axel looked down at Roxas quizzically and rubbed his eyes.

"I was?"

"You got up, unlocked the bedroom door, and then walked all the fucking way out here!" He walked behind the taller man and gave him a rough shove in the direction of their shared room.

"I've never seen someone sleepwalk like that! Don't people grow out of that when they're like, ten?"

Axel remained silent, and for the most part completely groggy and half-asleep during the tirade. "What?" He finally mumbled, while being pushed through the room door, stumbling on the carpet near the entry.

"You were sleepwalking!" Roxas explained angrily. "You got up and went for a freaking stroll!"

"Oh." Axel sat down on the end of his bed and propped his head up with one arm on his knee. "I haven't done that for awhile…"

"Awhile?"

"Uh huh." He yawned, and flopped back down on the bed. "I used to do that all the time when I was a kid, then I sorta grew out of it. I'd still do it sometimes if I was in a new place, but that's the extent of it."

Roxas couldn't believe his luck. Just when he was starting to think Axel was somewhat normal – relatively speaking – this little bit of information comes up.

"You do realize," Roxas stated, looking directly at Axel, 'that you are in a new place right now. Just how have you managed staying at a new place almost every night without getting, oh I don't know…run over by a car?"

"Really awesome luck?" Axel hazarded, much to Roxas' annoyance. "Look," he began, "If it bothers you so much, and you don't want me winding up dead why don't you just sleep with me."

What?

What the hell?

Of all the possible suggestions Roxas had expected to hear, this one wasn't even on the list!

Him? Sleep in the same bed as Axel? It had to be a joke. A sick joke that was _totally _not funny.

Something of Roxas' disbelief must have shown, because Axel started to laugh at him. "It's not like it's a big freaking deal Rox. There's lots of room!" He moved over on the twin bed as far as physically possibly. Leaving what could only be described as a 'smidgeon' of room for Roxas to sleep in.

"You seem like you're a light sleeper, so if I start to get up, whack me upside the head or something. And don't you dare tell me you wouldn't like to get a few punches in." Axel added, grinning roguishly.

"You're serious."

"Yeah."

Roxas bit his bottom lip between his teeth and hesitantly walked over to the bed, flicking off the bedside lamp on the way.

'Don't think of it as sleeping with a guy.' Was the repetitive mantra going through his head as he pulled back the blankets and crawled in beside the smirking redhead.

But of course, he _was _doing exactly that.

Roxas scooted as close to the edge of the bed as possible. Putting as much space as he could between himself and Axel. If he didn't wake up on the floor in the morning it would be a miracle.

"Night Roxas." The words were practically _breathed _right next to his ear, and Roxas had the sudden urge to run away – very quickly. If only Sora could see him. He'd never ever live it down. Not in a million years.

"Just remember something Axel. You owe me big time." Was the half-hearted reply spoken from the tired blond, before sleep finally overtook him for the second time that night.

The next morning could only be described as awkward. Although that really didn't do the scene justice.

The first thing Roxas was aware of upon awakening was an unwarranted amount of warmth underneath him. Far too much for a bed – maybe a heated blanket, but he _knew _for certain that he didn't have one of those. Also, he was fairly sure that heated blankets didn't usually _breath. _And if one did, then you likely had a very large problem on your hands.

Another thing the warmth had was _texture. _More specifically – a distinctly human feel to it.

It was at that point that Roxas' brain decided to play catch up with all the memories of the previous night. Axel.

Axel was sleeping _underneath _Roxas. Or more correctly, Roxas way lying on _top _of the dozing redhead, which made it seem that much worse.

The blonde quickly rolled over and off the edge of the bed, landing with a painful 'thud' onto the carpeted floor.

"Roxas?" Axel rolled over to look at his nighttime molester who was currently crawling backwards across the floor. "You alright?"

Roxas felt the side of the other bed with his hand. He used it for leverage, hauling himself to his feet and sitting down, filled with embarrassment, guilt, and no small amount of anger.

"Why didn't you push me off?" He finally asked, after Axel had stared at him in wonder for a good few minutes. "You should have at least had the decency to wake me up."

"Oh." Axel stretched his arms, all of his joints cracking in the process. He then gave Roxas a knowing smirk. "Well, you're the one who crawled on me, and you didn't seem to mind at all!" He stood up and walked over to his backpack, pulling out some clean clothes to change into.

"It's no biggie." He added on his way to the little bathroom to get dressed.

'_No biggie?' _Roxas thought. _'I damn well used him as a body pillow last night!' _

Roxas wasn't given much time to ponder the matter much, because as soon as Axel was dressed he was ready to go.

"It's seven." He stated, pulling Roxas from his spot on the bed and handing him his bag. "Go get dressed and we'll hit a breakfast joint." Roxas didn't have time to retort before the bathroom door was shut in his face. It was going to be a _long _day.

Attached to the hotel lobby was a small café, and from the amount of people already seated and eating it looked to be a popular place for a quick, inexpensive bite. That suited Axel and Roxas fine. Time and money were two things they were lacking.

It was after they were seated at a window overlooking a busy street, and given menus that Axel decided to broach the topic of travel. In particular, where they were going, and whether if they would be sticking together.

"I think I'm going to catch a bus to York today." He said after a bit of consideration, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of bacon. "I've heard it's an okay place, and I figure I might as well check it out while I can." He motioned to the waitress to get a fill on his coffee and waited to see Roxas' reaction to the news.

It wasn't quite as he was expecting.

"Okay." He said without a hint of emotion. Axel wondered if he was always so agreeable, but brushed the thought off as ridiculous. He knew very well that Roxas wasn't the easy-going sort.

"Okay? Just like that?"

"Yeah." Roxas sipped from his teacup and nodded. "I'm sure you'll probably have a really good time there." He added.

Something in the wording gave Axel the clue he needed. '…_you'll probably have a good time there.'_

Him. Not Roxas.

"I don't think you understood what I was getting at." Axel explained. "I want to know if you feel like tagging along."

Roxas sat his teacup down gently, and gave Axel a hard look. His plans didn't include York in the itinerary. They included numerous museums, galleries, cathedrals and castles spread across several different Countries – but, definitely no stopover in York.

"I can't." Roxas said finally. He would stay in London for a couple more days before going to Paris. That was the plan and he intended to stick to it.

Axel however, was not one to be deterred. "Why not? There's stuff in York I'm sure you'd like." He pressed. "And then we can split the cost of rooms. It'll be cheaper if we stick together."

"It's not on my schedule." Roxas pointed out. "I only have three weeks in Europe, I can't just do whatever I want."

The last part had Axel laughing. It seemed like an oxymoron to go on vacation and stick to the fine print. It had a _feel _of work to the idea, which made Axel feel a little sorry for the kid.

" I hate to break it to you Rox," he began. "But it's _your_ vacation, and you can do whatever the hell you want to." He pulled a pen out of his bag and started to draw lines on a napkin.

"So, this here is London." He pointed to a large inked dot near the middle of the napkin. "And this," he drew a line up from there and dotted the end of it. "this is York. My next stopover. And that's it! That's my brilliant plan!"

"That's it?" Roxas was filled with horror over the idea. To travel all the way to Europe and not have a plan beyond two cities. The concept seemed ludicrous!

"That's it!" Axel grinned and crumpled the napkin up in a ball. "It's not like I don't have specific places I want to see – I do! Really! But I've been here a week already and the best times I've had so far have been unexpected. For instance…running you over. I hadn't planned on that one happening."

Roxas couldn't believe he'd use that as an example. If flying by the seat of your pants involved nearly killing people, then the blonde wanted absolutely no part of it.

"I can see you're not convinced." Axel wracked his brain for a better illustration. "Okay, so I flew into London a week ago, and from there I went straight over to Dublin." He ate a forkful of scrambled egg and continued his story. "So I had this plan to just check out Dublin and come right back to London, but it didn't work out like that. I met some really awesome locals who were going to visit Cork and they offered me a ride. And you know what?"

"What?" Roxas asked on the verge of exasperation.

"I had a kickass time there!" He pushed his plate away, already finished, and awaited some sort of reply from the blonde. It didn't arrive.

"Well?" Axel prompted impatiently. "You want to live adventurously for once?"

Roxas bit his lip in concentration and shifted the food around his plate with the fork. He was _supposed _to stay in London. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen if he didn't, but on the other hand…

Axel was sort of fun to be around. Well, in a completely annoying kind of way of course.

And, he was right about the costs. It would be cheaper if the two of them stuck together.

Roxas took a deep breath and made a decision. One he was certain he would later regret.

"Okay."

The trip by bus had started uneventful. About the only thing Roxas could think to complain about was how crowded the bus was, but that was only to be expected during the high season.

Axel sat beside him nearest the aisle seat. Craning his head over Roxas to get a glimpse out the window at the rolling farm land and small towns they passed by. It was quiet, peaceful even. Until the bus stopped in Peterborough to pick up passengers. That's when they met exuberance personified. The person in question had practically _glowed _with happiness and excitement when he stepped on the bus. Something that might have seemed normal on a small child, but they guy looked to be in his late teens.

Roxas thought the guy might be deranged, or completely retarded.

The stranger had dirty blonde hair in one of the most bizarre styles Roxas had ever seen. It looked something like a mullet and a mohawk's lovechild that even by British punk standards would have been considered bloody weird. When coupled with the multitude of colorful patches on the guy's bag, and his ratty jeans and generic black tee-shirt a picture of extreme eccentricity was formed.

Or maybe just borderline insanity.

"Hi! I'm Demyx!"

Roxas and Axel exchanged a look. It was just their luck that the newcomer would choose to sit _directly _in front of them. The stranger held seated himself at the window seat and turned around with his had outstretched.

"I'm Roxas," He shook the offered hand grudgingly. "And this is Axel." Roxas nudged Axel in the side to get him to shake Demyx's hand. It took a few jabs.

"Sweet! Are you tourists?" Demyx was practically _bouncing _around in his seat, putting most hyperactive kids to shame. "I am! I'm going on to York!" He answered before either Roxas or Axel had a chance to reply.

Upon hearing that, Axel hissed something under his breath, which to Roxas sounded suspiciously like a certain four letter 'F' word.

"And I'm going to stay in a hostel there, and visit York Minster and the York Castle Museum!" He said, smiling brightly.

Roxas had never been one to completely give in to despair, but if there was ever a time, it was now. Since he had decided to come along to York, he had _planned _on seeing those two sights himself. But if Demyx was going…

"He's going to both those places!" Axel piped up, pointing at Roxas. Demyx actually attempted to high five Roxas upon hearing the news, but refrained when he saw the look.

A very dirty look. Mostly directed at Axel, but still not something Demyx wanted to mess with.

"You should go together." Axel added, to Roxas' dawning horror. Axel was enjoying himself immensely – even if it was a cruel punishment to dish-out.

But Demyx seemed so very happy and insane. Probably nuttier than a can of salted peanuts in Axel's honest opinion. Combined with Roxas' many anal-retentive qualities _something _had to happen. Whether or not that _something _would involve a trip to the hospital or a night in the slammer had yet to be established.

"Yeah, that would be great!" Demyx was positively beaming. It actually hurt the eyes to witness. Something about it was similar to staring directly at the sun, and in some strange way it reminded Roxas of his brother Sora. He quickly brushed the thought aside. _Nobody was like Sora, especially not the mentally deranged._

From that point the bus ride took on a different feel. Gone was the quiet pensiveness in the air, replaced by excited tension from one crazy traveler in particular. Everyone else settled on annoyance.

"…round and round – round and round – round and round! The wheels on the bus go round and round…"

"Shut up!" Roxas massaged his head. He had taken his pain-killers earlier, but they weren't designed to handle Demyx's singing. Roxas seriously doubted if anything was.

Axel was already out cold, leaning his head against the blonde's shoulder. Roxas _wished _he had the ability to block out the noise and just sleep. He was a light sleeper as it was, and Demyx's constant chatter and musical escapades was enough to keep almost anybody awake.

"So…" Demyx began, thankfully taking a break from bus songs. "Are you and Axel friends or whatever?"

"We're…" Roxas searched for the right word. 'Friends' didn't seem to fit. It gave the impression that they'd known each other for some time. "Acquaintances." He finally settled on.

"Oh, okay. I just thought, well, _you know_…" The statement's implications were not lost on Roxas.

"You thought wrong." He stated with a finality that brooked absolutely no room for argument. And for once Demyx used some good judgment and didn't push the subject further. On the contrary, he changed the topic quickly to neutral ground: Music, travel and the past few weeks he had spent on the road.

"…And I always wanted to hit the road for some inspiration. Ya know? Maybe get some insight for my music before I hit school in the fall."

Roxas thought he knew what Demyx was trying to get at, in a roundabout way of course. One that didn't involve stark fucking craziness.

The biggest shocker. The absolute wildest piece of information that the blond had gotten out of the other's inane ramblings had to be the bit about university.

Demyx and university. Or more correctly, the fact that Demyx was apparently actually _going _to a university. In a music program no less!

And that changed Roxas' opinion. Not necessarily about Demyx's mental faculties (which were decided 'special'), but rather about the quality of a university education. Or lack of.

"So Rox! You don't mind if I call you Rox, do you?" He didn't wait for a reply but kept right on going.

"I wanna see Stonehenge after this! We should all go! All three of us!" He gestured to Axel, who was still sleeping soundly, but had his head leaned the _other _way, which suited Roxas fine. He didn't enjoy being a post.

"I don't know…" Roxas began. It had been happening like this every few minutes. Every time a possible location came up, Demyx would get excited and mention traveling as a group.

Roxas didn't want that. Not one teensy, tiny, little bit. The problem was that it wasn't easy telling Demyx 'no'.

"But think of the fun we could have! You two seem really nice, and I'd love to hang out with you guys!"

And that was the problem. Roxas was learning that Demyx didn't seem to have a mean bone in his hyperactive little body, which made it hard to crush him. Practically impossible to be exact.

"Oh, why the hell not." The discussion ceased and both turned to look at Axel, who had finally awoken.

"You really mean it? I can stick with you two?"

The protest was in Roxas, just begging to come out and bitch slap Demyx back to wherever the hell he hailed from. He didn't want anyone else tagging along. It was bad enough just dealing with a certain annoying redhead, and the last thing he wanted was a total spaz to join in on the adventure.

But Demyx looked so damn, childishly happy when Axel said he could stay with them. Roxas _couldn't _say no. It was hard enough just _looking _at Demyx's expression without cracking a smile. How does someone say 'no' to that?

They can't.

And once again, Roxas found that his plans had changed. Not that he liked that fact.

He didn't like it one bit.

**A/N: Well there you have it, the fastest update you are probably ever going to get from me, or at least the fastest in a while. I like reviews. Actually, scratch that; I love reviews! I really appreciate constructive feedback, or even just your two-cents worth!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **_Oh how I wish I owned it!_

**Warnings: **_A little of this, and a little of that…Yaoi, mature language and themes. _

**Author's Notes: **_First off, I want to thanks all my lovely reviewers! You guys make my day, you really do! Oh, and I had a bit of a mental train wreck, when I started going over the itinerary I had designed for the trip in this fic. For some unknown reason I had thought that Roxas was only supposed to be in Europe for two weeks, and then I looked at the amount of stuff I had written down that he was going to see, and really freaked, because there just isn't enough time. After that I reread my chapter one and was surprised to find that it was mentioned that he has THREE weeks there, not two. Good thing too._

_And in totally unrelated news, I think I might actually have Strep Throat, not that I'm exactly happy about the whole thing. I will know for sure after a visit to the clinic today, but until then, more ICECREAM! _

Uncommon Ground

**Chapter 5.**

It wasn't until later in the evening that Roxas truly started to hate the new situation he found himself stuck dead center in the middle of.

In a very literal interpretation of the phrase.

It hadn't been so bad for Roxas when they were touring around the city of York after arriving there in the early afternoon. It had actually been, almost _pleasant, _at least when compared to the bus ride there.

For one thing, if Demyx started to talk non-stop (which he always did), or God-forbid – _sing, _Roxas only had to run away from the situation. Something he couldn't do when stuck sitting behind him on the cramped bus ride.

The running away from Demyx scheme had worked brilliantly too, all it required was stealth and a little bullshit.

Stealth hadn't been too much of a problem. When the three of them had decided to check out York Minster Roxas had been overjoyed for one reason. The place was big. Big enough to get lost in, and most importantly, big enough to lose someone else in.

They had started off sticking together when they entered the massive building. That had lasted about two minutes, at which time Roxas put his plan into action.

He needed to use the bathroom.

Well, not _really, _but nobody else needed to know that. And even though Roxas was a bad liar, he had still managed to pull off a pretty good 'need to pee' act. Complete with leg crossing and a little jig.

And Demyx had bought the act, hook, line and sinker. Axel not so much. He was fairly sure that if Roxas had to pee, he wouldn't be dancing around like a five year old very close to wetting himself. It just wasn't his style. Nevertheless, he watched Roxas head off in the direction of the bathrooms, and waited patiently for around four minutes, before deciding to check and see if the kid had drowned.

It came as no surprise when Roxas wasn't to be found in the washroom, or anywhere else Axel and Demyx looked.

Roxas had seen his opportunity and had ran with it – the whole of York Minster all by himself, provided he didn't run into his two 'companions'. And he didn't even see them until over an hour had passed, and by that time he had stopped caring.

Everything had gone so well before they got to the hotel. _Too well. _

But this. _This. _Simply would not do. No way in hell was Roxas sleeping in the middle!

And that is exactly what his present predicament entails.

One queen size bed.

Three guys.

No fucking way.

"Oh it's not a big deal. I did this once back in high-school on my way to see a concert!" Demyx slapped Roxas across the back amiably. "It was freaking hilarious!"

'_Yes, I bet it was just so fucking hilarious you almost died. You annoying pain in the ass.' _ Roxas thought to himself, staring at the bed in a delightful mixture of horror and disbelief.

Sharing a bed with Axel had been bad. Maybe not bad enough to cause Roxas any Post Traumatic Stress, but definitely bad enough to induce a few nightmares. Perhaps even a night terror or two for good measure to add to the lack of sleep he was sure to get in the future.

But sharing a bed with Axel _and _Demyx was simply beyond his ability to comprehend. It was embarrassing, far too touchy-feeling to his liking, and above all entirely too _gay._

"You okay Rox? You're looking a little paler than normal?" Axel gave him a knowing smirk. He _knew _Roxas would rather staple his own ass to the floor than share a bed with two other men.

Unfortunately there was never a stapler when you needed it.

"Of course I'm okay!" Roxas protested, his voice so squeaky it sounded like he'd just been castrated.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" He taunted. "If you want to sleep on the floor that's fine."

"No that's okay."

"Check out my pajamas!" Demyx stepped out of the bathroom wearing what appeared to Roxas to be a set pajamas suited to a retarded girl.

Demyx mistook Roxas' look for confusion.

"They are music fairies!"

And Roxas had to admit that they would probably look good, if you were high on a hallucinogenic. The pants were a light green color, but after that everything went to many different levels of wrongness. Little black and gold music notes being held by…little winged fairies. Roxas hadn't seen anything so disturbing on pajamas in his entire life.

He looked closer. The fairies were wearing leaves and flowers and other assorted foliage.

"Nice. Little People." Axel said with only the smallest hint of sarcasm. Evidently he also had a liking for idiotic things.

"I got them in London." The dirty blond said simply with a shrug. "I figured since I'm not going to Ireland I should at least get something sorta Irish."

Demyx crawled into bed and Axel started stripping down to his boxers, leaving Roxas with little other option but to follow his example.

But there were certain limits to Roxas' capacity to function. One of which was partial nudity in the presence of two other guys. _Presence, _wasn't the word. Spoonage was more the correct term for a three guy snuggle fest in a cheap British hotel.

While Demyx was quite comfortable in his pajamas (however juvenile Roxas considered them), and Axel was more than content in just a pair of silky black boxers, the youngest blond took it upon himself to personally make up for the lack of modesty in the room

He wore his clothes.

Now, to be fair it must be said that Roxas did _change _out of the clothes he had worn all day. He had simply put more day clothes on. A pair of jeans, and a tee-shirt, followed by a black sweatshirt, because that meant more layers. He even put a clean pair of socks on, just to be safe – Axel struck him as a possible foot fetishist in any case.

"Think you'll be warm enough?" Axel quipped, laughing as Roxas struggled to shove him over, and into the middle of the bed. At last Axel relented and moved over, giving Roxas enough space on the edge to sleep. Barely.

"And by the way Demyx." Roxas said, after a few minutes of silence had descended in the small, darkened room. "Axel likes to sleepwalk. If he tries crawling over you in the middle of the night, just punch him in the face, or something."

The only response was a faint chuckle, and the sound of light snores coming from Axel.

The warning turned out unnecessary. Axel never tried crawling over Demyx in his sleep.

He crawled out of bed the other way, right over top of a sleeping Roxas.

At least, a _once _sleeping Roxas. Once Axel had gotten into the position of _straddling _the younger blond, Roxas had awoken very quickly with a start. Followed by a blood curdling scream.

"RAPE!"

"Huh…?"

"Get the fuck off me!"

Axel blinked. Beneath him Roxas was having a little fit, much like a seizure in fact – except for all the choice phrases being used.

"You sick mother fucker! You fucking rapist!"

But that was the point where Axel had to scratch his head and really wonder about just what was going on.

"And if you don't get off me right now…" The threat was left hanging in the tense air of the room. _Or else I'll find some scissors and snip off your balls! _Seemed to be the most logical conclusion to it.

Roxas squirmed and grabbed the bedside lamp from the nightstand and held it up, aiming it squarely at the other's head . It appeared to be solid metal – likely brass – and made with durability in mind. Complete with some very mean looking sharp edges.

Axel didn't need further prompting and quickly jumped off the enraged blond. "Sorry, I was sleeping."

"You were sleeping! You were sleeping and raping me!"

From the other side of the bed, a rustle of bed sheets was heard, and Demyx, tousle haired and sleepy eyed raised his head to look blurrily at the two. "'m tryin' to sleep…" He slurred, before his head hit the pillow with a resounding 'thud'.

"You know that I sleepwalk." Axel pointed out, voice lowered as not to bother Demyx. "It's not like I _intentionally _tried to straddle you.

"Plus," He added. "If I was trying to rape you don't you think I would have tried…oh, I don't know? Ripping your clothes off maybe?"

"Rape." Roxas protested yet again. Only this time it lacked most of its former indignation and outrage, and instead just sounded flat. A point solely made for argument's sake, nothing else.

"Sure kid." Axel sighed. "Sorry about that, it probably won't happen again." _'Hopefully.' _He thought to himself, but didn't say it out loud for fear of a pair of scissors or a lamp being used.

"It damn well better not." Roxas replied, turning over on his side of the bed, and facing away from Axel. The bedside clock telling him it was already two in the morning, and that in itself pissed the blond off. _'I won't be sleeping now.' _He thought in irritation. Fighting to get comfortable in the bed again, and pulling up the blankets to his chin – despite the many layers of clothing he already had on.

And fifteen minutes later he was out like a light.

Roxas would not speak to Axel in the morning.

It wasn't at first noticeable until Axel made the huge mistake of asking how Roxas had slept – earning himself a chilly glare and a pair of dirty socks thrown at his head. Roxas immediately packed his backpack and stalked out of the room without any further violent outbursts aimed at the redhead. Minus a slammed door to the face.

"So…" Demyx was packing his own stuff up in a rush, mostly clothes. "What happened last night?" He pulled his unbelievably small backpack on and turned to Axel for clarification. "I heard the word 'rape' a lot."

"Yeah, well." Axel shrugged. "A bit of a misunderstanding. Roxas likes to blow stuff way out of proportion."

Demyx nodded in understanding. "He seems…" He stalled for a word to describe the young blond and eventually settled on "Tense."

They both finished packing in a hurry and left the hotel room. Axel leading the way to the front desk in the lobby to check out and hand the two room keys in.

"Don't worry about it." Demyx said as they approached the big front counter. "I'm sure he'll get over it."

Axel wasn't entirely convinced of the matter, but Demyx continued on in a positive manner. "Besides," he said smiling brightly, "If he was super mad he wouldn't have stayed around here."

"What?"

Demyx pointed to the small café attached to the main lobby. At a corner table, in the far back they could just make out the small figure of Roxas sipping from a mug.

Axel let out a sigh of relief, although he wasn't sure why exactly. It wasn't as if he really _needed _to stick to the kid on his trip through Europe. Although, he had to admit to himself that it had been fun. Really enjoyable actually. He would have missed all the heated banter and teasing if Roxas had decided to strike out on his own.

"Let's go bug him!" Demyx yelled, and then took off in a dead run for the table Roxas was seated at. Roxas didn't have a moment to dodge before a mass of dirty-blond hair hit him in a head on collusion that left him sprawled on the floor.

A waitress glared at Demyx as she passed by, but he either didn't notice or didn't care, as he got up off the floor and held a hand out to Roxas. "Sorry 'bout that. You looked like you needed to wake up."

A barely audible grumble was the only reply, but Roxas took the proffered hand without hesitation and didn't even bother to offer a rebuke after being wrestled to the floor.

"Well?" Demyx asked, sliding into the booth opposite Roxas, "I heard Axel raped you last night."

The tea that Roxas was sipping on sprayed out of his mouth and landed all over the table in a light mist. "What?"

Axel sauntered over to the table and sat down beside the dumbfounded blond right at that moment, but Demyx kept right on topic.

"So did he? I thought I would have noticed something like that going on, since I was in the same bed and all!"

Roxas was turning redder and redder by the second. Although from embarrassment or anger was anyone's guess. "Shut up." He hissed, causing Demyx to stop the very loud, very public interrogation.

"I wasn't raped." He continued, much in the same, ominous manner.

Axel made the very wise decision of not saying anything at all, which was good. Roxas had a tendency to violent flare-ups after all. Especially since he was the supposed 'rapist' of such fame as to have every patron of the café straining to hear what was said about the incident.

"Almost raped?"

"One more word Demyx and I swear…" Roxas lifted the butter knife beside his plate deftly in one hand and made a slicing motion with it dangerously close to the other's neck. The point was made crystal clear.

"Well that's a relief! And here I thought that Axel was a serial rapist or something!"

Axel found himself also suddenly mesmerized by his own butter knife, and wondered briefly what it would be like to gut someone with it. Someone who was long overdue for an execution and a haircut.

"Coffee?" A younger waitress with a soft, British accent asked timidly, standing a good five feet from the table, and looking anywhere but at the two young men ready to kill the other.

"Sure!" Demyx replied brightly, turning his cup over and gesturing at it. The waitress took a hesitant two steps foreword and poured the coffee from a distance that should have been physically impossible. Leaning much like the Tower of Pisa, only more so. Much more so.

"Axel, you want coffee?" Demyx asked. When he received no reply he turned Axel's coffee mug right side up regardless, much to the poor waitress's dismay.

"And maybe some more hot water for Roxas? That would be great!"

The waitress speedily took off for the kitchen, sending somebody else out with the water.

"You know what I think?" Demyx asked the two once talk had resumed at the other tables and it became obvious that no-one was too focused on their conversation anymore.

"I think that this is good." He took a long sip of coffee and leaned back in his seat with a look of utter satisfaction. "Us. Bickering around the breakfast table. It's good isn't it? Kinda reminds me of my family back home."

"But we're not having breakfast." Roxas pointed out after pondering the matter a moment. "It's technically not even a breakfast table."

"So…order something! Both of you. My treat!"

And unexpectedly both Axel and Roxas saw something different about the smiling, cheerful weirdo they had picked up on a bus. Very acute, somewhat eccentric insight into people.

Thankfully neither could truly foresee just what a pain in the ass that insight would turn out to be. If they had, they most definitely would have resorted to a butter knife.

**A/N: **_In the next chapter, Jorvik, a very drunk Roxas, and a castle!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **_I owned everything! EVERYTHING! And then I bloody well had to go and wake up, and you know what? I now own NOTHING! _Sobs

**Warnings: **_Boys getting freaky with other boys (eventually), a fair share of not-so-delicate language, and the odd violent spree compliments of Roxas._

**Author's Notes: **_Well I finally got around to updating –I actually tried to update on Victoria Day (Monday), however the FFN login was down, so that didn't go very far! _

_I realized I lied in the last chapter when I said there would be drunkenness and a castle, that's going to be in the next chapter. _

_Oh and also, I'd love to hear a little about all my readers, namely which little corner of the world everyone hails from. Until my next update – LATERZ!_

Uncommon Ground

**Chapter 6.**

Not for the first time in his life Roxas wished he had remembered to learn more about a destination.

He did consider himself to be a bit of an expert on all things touristy and European – with no small amount of pride bordering on what some might call 'self-centered bastard syndrome'. Before leaving on his whirlwind euro trip he had poured over every available guidebook at the local library, spent countless hours in front of the computer looking at tourism sites until his eyes were bloodshot and blurry, and watched every single, stupid travel program that came on the television.

His friends had unanimously decided that Roxas was a nut job, and given the evidence they were probably right. However Roxas had brushed off all the comments, and continued his research with an almost sick obsession. At least, he reasoned, that by the end of it all he would have a vast knowledge of his soon-to-be destinations.

But even his vast knowledge had limits. Limits that seemed to extend to only the areas he had marked on his travel agenda with a big yellow highlighter. Everything else was not worth the while, simply on account of it not being on his list of places to go. A list he had painstakingly made and wanted to stick to like super glue.

A list that had been brutally desecrated and left for dead, thanks to a certain red-haired nuisance, now on his ever growing hit list.

"But _Roxas, _it's Jorvik! We can't miss Jorvik!" Axel had practically _whined_, bumping Roxas' irritation up another notch. "It's supposed to be the most kick-ass thing around here."

"Vikings, Roxas, Vikings!" Demyx had added, grabbing Roxas by the arm and dragging him down the sidewalk, away from the front of the hotel they had stayed in.

"But I just want to see the York Castle Museum." Roxas complained, wrenching his arm free of the tight grasp it was in. "I don't even want to see Jorvik!"

The other two had stopped listening to his protests and had kept on walking down the sidewalk towards the bus stop. Roxas followed behind at a slower rate, feet dragging along the paving stones and eyes downcast. His day was not going as planned – not even close!

They had to physically push Roxas onto the bus when it arrived. Prodding the blond up the bus steps, and then making him sit down on a seat near the back.

"I just don't get it Rox. What's the problem with seeing Jorvik?" Axel asked, already pulling out his camera in preparation for going picture taking crazy. "It's _historical._" He taunted, elbowing Roxas in the side. "I thought you were into that sort of thing."

"I am." He replied, staring out the bus window and trying to ignore Axel's attempts at baiting him. "But it's not mentioned in the guidebook I use."

Before he even finished saying that he realized how pathetic it sounded. But the worst part was that it was the _truth. _He had never heard of Jorvik until both Axel and Demyx brought it up. How good could a place be if _those _two wanted to see it.

Roxas would have much rather preferred to have stuck with the old standby tourist sights – especially since he really wasn't even supposed to be in York in the first place!

"That's sad." Axel gave Roxas a light tap on the back of the head and continued. "And you call yourself a backpacker! You don't have the spirit for it."

"Hey Roxas, if you don't like Jorvik then you get to pick what we do next, 'kay?" Demyx handed a brochure on York's tourist attractions to the blond and went back to nibbling on a biscuit he had gotten from the café earlier.

"I'm pretty sure you'll like it though. It's really cool looking in all the pictures!"

Axel nodded in agreement with Demyx. Roxas still wasn't convinced in the matter, but if they were going to let him choose the next stop then he was willing to put up with Jorvik. He'd just have to make sure that their next location was so painfully annoying it would make Axel suicidal and Demyx quiet (not that he really believed it would ever be possible to make the bubbling, rambling mass of energy stop talking).

But revenge was sweet, and he already had an idea forming on how to torture the two.

The bus rolled to a stop and about half the occupants started filing off. Axel pulled Roxas up by the arm and steered him through the lineup of people disembarking, Demyx trailing behind and whistling a tune. One that Roxas couldn't quite place, but found annoying nonetheless.

"You look like you want to ax murder someone." Axel whispered in a conspiratorial tone in Roxas' ear. "Probably me, right?"

"Wow. You're actually right for a change Axel." Roxas hissed back, not quite sure if he liked Axel leaning in so close. It gave him a very distinct feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach.

"Yo, Demyx!" Axel hollered at their fellow traveler, who had stopped at an information board to read. "Don't let Roxas near any sharp, pointy objects!" He laughed loudly when Demyx gave him a thumbs up in understanding.

"Do you guys wanna meet up later at the gift shop?" Demyx yelled back, before Axel and Roxas decided to head to the huge lineup of people waiting to get into the park.

Roxas blinked. A gift shop. Souvenir shopping was the one thing he hadn't done much of yet. A few postcards and key chains were all he had bought so far on his travels. Which Roxas figured to be a good thing in some ways, as it at least meant he wasn't blowing all his money on stuff too big and heavy to fit in his bag. On the other hand…

He really _did _need to get a good gift from his trip to bring back for Sora. Something fun and not too serious. Art was definitely out of the question, as was anything breakable, overpriced or for that matter likely to be stolen.

Jorvik would have _plenty _of less-expensive, durable, 'fun' stuff that would probably keep Sora amused for awhile. After all, the place _was _a reconstruction of a Viking settlement.

"Sure, sounds good." Roxas called back, surprising Demyx and Axel with his enthusiasm to go along with the plan. Upon seeing their shocked expressions Roxas inwardly snickered and decided to play it up. "I can't wait to buy some stuff from here."

As they stood at the back of the queue of loud, excited groups of waiting people, Roxas noticed something odd.

The line didn't appear to be moving.

At all.

"Axel?" He asked, startling the redhead at his side out of his apparent stupor. "The line isn't moving, is it?"

Axel took a moment to glance over the line of people in front, before whistling a long, low note that didn't seem to speak of good tidings.

"It's moving." He began tentatively. "But it's one hell of a line-up."

"What!" Roxas jumped up and down a few times to try and get a better look up at the front of the line, but he just wasn't tall enough. "Just how long exactly?" Roxas asked, already fearing the worst.

As if to make the point perfectly clear, Axel sat down right on the walkway and used his backpack as a headrest.

"Shit."

The crowd was slowly getting much the same idea as Axel, and soon a good portion of the people waiting were sitting down. Or in Demyx's case laying flat out behind the other two and singing the 'Grand Old Duke of York' under his breath.

Roxas stood. For one reason it meant that in a short time he'd be able to see the front of the line-up, thanks to the sheer amount of sitting that was happening. The other reason was more along the lines of complete stubbornness.

He would not be made a little whiny bitch because of a stupid line of people. He was better than that!

"You're making me tired. Sit down already."

"No Axel."

After five minutes of standing around watching everyone else sitting, Roxas swallowed his pride and slumped to the ground in defeat.

More time passed, fifteen minutes to be precise, with only the slightest amount of movement felt in the line. The line was at a _crawls_ pace. The really sad part was that it actually was _crawling_; people were scooting ahead on their hands and knees inch by painful inch when the time called for it. _'Which', _as Roxas thought, _'wasn't very often.'_

And to make matters worse, and sink the day into a negative fun category so far in the minus regions as to make it almost unbearable, the sky itself decided to piss on their moment of misfortune. It started to rain.

"_It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is…hey!" _Demyx was cut off from his sing song by a slap to the head by an already very annoyed blond.

Axel stood up suddenly, startling Roxas in the process and stopping Demyx from breaking into yet another song.

"It's a good thing it's raining." He said at last, after getting questioning glances from both Roxas and Demyx. "Look around." He explained, waving his hand to gesture at the line of people.

That for some reason seemed a whole lot smaller.

"What the…" Roxas watched as around three-quarters of the tourists left the line and started to make their way to the parking lot. Some with umbrellas unfurled, while others were left with no other option but to run for it.

"Sweet! They hate rain!" Demyx quickly got up from the ground, all smiles and infectious enthusiasm. "I'll bet it won't take long now."

That turned out to be the understatement of the year. What would have taken hours of waiting, was cut down to only another ten minutes.

When they finally made it to the front, Roxas had all but forgotten to be bothered entirely at the prospect of being there. He wasn't even mildly annoyed anymore. Although he still complained loudly about the entry fees when he saw the rates posted on a sign as they got closer to the main gates.

"Two passes." Axel said when the time came to pay for them. He handed over the money at the counter before Roxas had any time to make a fuss, passing the one ticket to the blond and offering a shrug to Demyx.

"Next time we drag him somewhere he doesn't wanna go you can pay for it." He said amiably. "And don't you dare start pissing and moaning about your ticket Rox."

Roxas was taken completely off guard, but somehow managed to form a coherent 'thank you' without too much trouble. The words seemed completely foreign, like the passing phrases heard as you walk a busy section of the city – snippets of conversations you just don't have the entitlement of knowing. Roxas thought it felt a lot like that.

Jorvik was sprawling in the way most historic towns seem to be designed. Big enough to meander in and always find some new building or different area that you never noticed before. Small enough so that getting lost was never an issue.

Roxas' only thought upon entering the place was disbelief that he had never heard of Jorvik before.

It wasn't bad.

Not bad at all in fact.

" Jorvik! Jorvik!" Demyx offered like a mantra every time he'd see a park employee dressed as a Viking walk on by. Most would leave him alone. The odd one would give him a weird look and draw a sword, which only fueled the fire of Demyx's hyper insanity.

Roxas wasted no time and immediately started snapping pictures with his digital camera, which was already getting low on memory due to his previous excursions around London and York.

"I've already filled two memory cards." Axel said when he noticed the way Roxas was trying to pace himself with the photo frenzy. "I think I took around fifty photos my first day in London." He added, taking out his own camera and getting a shot of Demyx mauling one of the Vikings.

"He looks like he's having fun." Roxas watched as Demyx was pushed off a big, burly man dressed as a warrior. He looked to be having the time of his life.

Axel laughed. "He's _always _having fun." He pointed out, to which Roxas had to agree. They had only known Demyx for a very short time, but he had already made himself a nice little niche in the party. A crazy, happy one for sure, but still his own special brand of weirdness.

"Hey guys! Check this dude out! His name is Xaldin and he has the hugest sideburns I've ever seen!" Demyx was quickly tackled to the ground by the aforementioned big, bad 'Viking'.

He twitched on the ground.

"Should we help him?" Roxas wondered aloud, but it wasn't needed. Demyx sprang up from the ground and grinned.

"I'm okay!"

The rest of the morning and part of the early afternoon progressed in much the same fashion. They would split up every so often, but sooner or later they would run into each other at an exhibit, or just follow the sounds of angry Vikings if on the lookout for Demyx.

Even the weather improved, which was a relief. It had turned out being a good way of getting rid of a crowd, but after hours of walking around in a cold rain the sun peeking through the clouds was a welcome sight.

And Roxas was having a good time. More to his own surprise than anyone else's. Both Axel and Demyx had figured the blond would eventually come around and see what a good idea it was to waste a day at Jorvik – not that Roxas would _ever _admit to being wrong.

Roxas was looking at a small Viking home when he remembered that he was supposed to be meeting up with Axel and Demyx at the gift shop. He glanced down at his watch and cursed, earning himself a glare from one of the costumed female Vikings.

He was already late.

Taking off at a run, he dodged tourists, Vikings, and the odd piece of architecture that he'd miss seeing until the last possible moment.

And than he saw the gift shop with dawning horror.

Demyx was on a shopping spree.

Roxas had seen some frenzied buying in his life. Usually it involved ladies, a mall, and the words 'clearance sale' in big, bold lettering.

This scenario had none of those things – well unless Demyx had a very dark secret he wasn't telling anyone. Roxas shook his head to clear the horrible imagery that had come to mind.

Tee-shirts, mugs, toys, even a few stuffed animals were piled onto the counter, and behind the massive pile Demyx stood grinning hugely and handing over a wad of cash. Roxas had to hand it to him. He certainly didn't have an issues with shopping like a madman – which he was.

Ignoring the shopoholic, Roxas slowly entered the little store, already eyeing up a Viking plushie on a rack near the back. If it were life sized it would have scared small kids and adults alike, but since it was only ten inches tall it really just looked kind of cute.

And Roxas knew it was something that Sora would definitely like.

"A stuffed doll? Really Rox, I didn't peg you as a toy kinda guy."

"Shut up Axel." Roxas picked up the little Viking and made his way towards the counter, Axel in tow.

"It's for my brother Sora." He elaborated, trying to cut off the next smart-ass comment Axel was sure to make. "He likes stupid stuff like this."

Thankfully there was no line up at the check-out, and Demyx was already waiting outside the door for them, three bags in hand.

Roxas handed over his payment to the cashier when the total came up and wasted no time in leaving the store. Any longer in there and he ran the risk of buying more.

"So this brother of yours…" Axel asked as they met up with Demyx outside. "Is he older or younger."

"Sora's younger." Roxas replied slowly, and with a little deliberation. "But only by a few minutes."

"Oh." Axel seemed a little surprised by the information. "Twins huh? Well you don't hear that one everyday. Must be better than having a brother a few years older. My brother's a total ass."

Roxas stopped walking.

"You shouldn't talk about your brother like that." Roxas said quietly, but with a certain edge in his voice that left absolutely no room for debate. Axel watched the blond walk away from him, and shrugged. He would ask about it later, now was certainly not the time.

It was already close to four-thirty by the time they found the way out of the park. Already the parking lot was close to deserted, with the last few stragglers packing it up for the day, leaving in a stream of tiny compacts.

"I don't know about you two," Axel began, "But I'm hungry, thirsty, and wouldn't mind a York pub about now."

Roxas stopped walking and turned on his heel, coming face to face with a very amused Axel and a happy Demyx (which was no surprise as he was always happy).

"What?"

"Umm, let's hit a pub?" Axel ventured, Demyx nodding rapidly at the idea.

"That's what I thought you said." Roxas slumped in a disbelief. _They _were going to go get drunk and leave Roxas to look after himself for the night. He realized belatedly how odd that thought had been. After all, the reason he had gone to Europe in the first place was to be on his own for a change.

And he'd been _trying _to get away from Axel since the very first day there. Admittedly he hadn't tried _very_ hard to ditch the redhead. In fact, Axel had started to grow on him, much like a toxic weed does in someone's prized lawn.

But for some reason, the idea of Axel and Demyx having a good time without him made Roxas a little uncomfortable – left out in a way.

"Why so glum Rox?" Axel jibed, ruffling the blond's short spiky hair, and inciting the oh-so-common glare, just not as lethal as usual. "You're eighteen right?"

Roxas nodded once, brain still not catching up to the current events.

Axel sighed exasperated. When he spoke he enunciated every word very slowly. "You." He poked Roxas in the chest. "Are coming with us. You're old enough to drink here."

"What!"

"Shall we?" Axel asked.

"I think so." Demyx replied. Each grabbed an arm of a stunned Roxas and proceeded to drag him to the nearest pub.

The loud shrieks of objection could be heard from miles away.

**Review my lovelies! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **_Guess what? No, really, guess. Yep, that's right. Kingdom Hearts isn't mine._

**Warnings: **_Shonen ai coming up soon enough, boys and their potty mouths, and drinking…er…drunkenness in fact._

**Author's Notes: **_Again to the reviewers and everyone who added this story to story alerts, you guys are simply amazing! _

Uncommon Ground

_**Chapter 7.**_

Roxas had never been much of a drinker. The position of resident lush had always gone to his best friend Hayner during their high school days together, not that Hayner had been anything even close to an alcoholic. If memory served Roxas correct, Hayner had been drunk a whopping four times over the course of their high school days. The title of lush had fallen on him only because Roxas certainly didn't have the reputation to carry it, and all of their other friends were even more pathetic lightweights.

So when Roxas went to set his glass down, knocked it, and watched with detached fascination as the remainder of his ice-cold beer spilled out across the table, he was a little surprised.

He knew he _should _be grabbing for napkins and wiping the mess up with prompt efficiency, but he just couldn't find it in himself to care much. The pub seemed much too warm and cozy. It certainly didn't seem like a place where one should concern themselves with such menial tasks as wiping up a spilled beer. The concept of liquor abuse did cross the young blond's mind for a brief moment, but he forgot about it not half a second later and instead continued to bask in his own contented glow.

The far-off look Roxas was sporting was not lost on Axel. He had been personally acquainted with the look more times than he really wanted to recall. It was the visage of someone completely sloshed – just not about to admit to it.

"You know," He said conversationally, while he wiped up the mess with napkins before it spread any farther. "I think you've probably had enough for tonight."

"Huh?" Roxas leaned forward at the little wooden table and laid his head down on the cool surface. "I dunno what you're talkin' bout."

"Here ya go!" Demyx plopped down on the seat next to Roxas and put a big glass of ice-water in front of him. "You just sip on that." He added lightly, and bit into a lightly crisped chip from the pile on his plate.

"He's tanked." He whispered to Axel, who's response was a curt nod.

"I know."

The funny thing, the really, truly ironic part, was that Roxas originally had no intention of drinking.

On the way to the pub he had made a fuss, because there was absolutely no way he was going to even have one beer.

And once seated in the quiet smoky atmosphere, amongst the locals discussing the daily drudgeries and tourists sitting in close-knit groups sipping on golden pints he had still stuck to his guns.

No way, no how.

However, once Axel had placed the order for the three of them, and placed a large glass of amber colored beer in front of him, he felt his resolve begin to waver, after all, it was only one drink.

He had picked up the beer, raised the glass to his lips, and said goodbye to better judgment. Not to get drunk of course – there was no way he'd do something so stupid.

That had been only six beers and an hour and a half in the past. Sad by anyone's standards, except Roxas', as he had no standards at the present time.

"You guys are fun…" He mumbled in a drunken stupor. "I'm happy I met ya."

Axel cracked a smirk and patted Roxas on the head. "Just try and remember that tomorrow morning." Axel heard a few guys laughing at the next table and waved at them, before pointing at Roxas and mouthing the word 'lightweight'.

It was only seven and the pub was already full of people. Most nursing a frothy beer and munching on food from the kitchen. Roxas, Axel and Demyx had all ordered fish and chips, but the youngest blond had never gotten around to eating more than a few mouthfuls of the food. Axel figured that was most of the problem.

"So Roxas," Demyx paused to take a swallow of lager before continuing. "You never told us much about yourself."

It took a moment for the blond to comprehend what was being asked. He stopped lazily drawing geometric patterns with his beer-coated finger on the table and shrugged drunkenly. A young woman from the table over waved, and Roxas wasn't sure if he loved her or hated her at that moment, but he waved back regardless.

"I dunno."

Axel took a long swallow of his beer and sat the glass on the table, keeping it carefully away from within range of Roxas. "You don't know what?

"I don't know…" Roxas began cryptically, a small clueless grin on his face as he tried to think of what to say. It wasn't easy. The act of thinking was simple enough when he let the random bits and pieces flow, it was focusing that was the problem. Pondering something for longer than a split-second was starting to hurt like hell.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" He slammed his fists down on the table, sending drinks rocking precariously and Demyx and Axel scrambling to hold on to them.

Luckily the noise in the crowded room completely covered the noise of one rambling drunken blond.

"My brother's leaving me!"

It took awhile for the meaning of the statement to come to Axel. Demyx was lost to it. His eyes widened in horror, before realizing that he probably didn't mean it _that _way.

"Your twin? Sora right?" Axel deduced. Roxas nodded dejectedly and slumped forward in his seat.

"He's going away."

"Oh?"

"Uh huh." Roxas said, taking a little sip of his water, much to everyone's relief. "He's leaving with his _boyfriend._" The word 'boyfriend' was muttered with so much spite it sounded like a curse, one involving pain of death in a dank torture chamber. Roxas took a deep breath to steady his drunken nerves before continuing in his fragmented manner.

"He said…"

"Go on."

"He told me he wouldn't! He fucking promised me!" His voice was growing louder amongst all the other noise in the room. If anyone heard, then they paid no attention to it. Most of the people there looked like regulars. They had probably heard it all before.

The stage of drunkenness had just moved into the phase of 'upset drunk'. Roxas cradled the water like it was a lifeline, taking big gulps of it every few moments and wiping a hand across his eyes when the need arose.

Axel and Demyx finished their food and beers quickly. It was time to leave. Watching someone make a complete idiot of themselves was one thing, but a shred of dignity needed to be left intact.

"Come on Rox, let's get going." Axel helped Roxas to his feet and slung an arm around him to keep the blond from toppling over.

Outside the evening air was still warm with a hint of dampness left over from the afternoon rain. Darkness had finally fallen over the city of York, and headlights from passing vehicles were reflecting light onto little puddles along the edge of the road.

Roxas clung on to Axel for dear life. Every few steps he would stumble on the pavement of the parking lot, only to be saved from a likely very painful and embarrassing fall to the ground by the redhead at his side.

"So, what's the plan." Axel asked Demyx.

They really hadn't thought any further ahead then dinner and a beer, or six beers in the case of Roxas.

"Well, call me crazy, but there's this castle I've always wanted to go and see. Thing is, it's a bit of a distance…"

Roxas slept poorly that night. He had no idea where he was, when he was, or at certain times, just who he was. He recalled clinging to Axel, that much was clear in his mind.

His companion had been something warm and wonderfully solid to hold onto when everything else was spinning around him in asymmetrical orbits. And Axel hadn't seemed to mind, at least as far as Roxas could tell – which was admittedly not very far in his present condition.

Even the ground didn't want to stay still, it was like the entire world kept on jarring his senses. He had heard being drunk made you tipsy, but _this _seemed a little excessive.

And his knowledge of what was happening was skewed and fragmented at best. He remembered walking out of the pub, but everything else was guesswork. He assumed they were going to be finding a place in York for the night – probably the same place they had stayed at the night before.

But he didn't think it took so long to get there, and the city bus seemed different somehow…

"Go to sleep Roxas." Someone told him firmly, most likely Axel, but he couldn't be sure. It was good advice though, so he took it. Pillowing his head against the person next to him and drifting off. The only thing he recalled hearing before completely falling asleep was something about 'being there by morning.'

But that didn't seem quite right.

Did it take that long to get to the hotel?

"Ugh."

"Want some aspirin blondie?"

Roxas rolled over and buried his head in the pillow to block out the light filtering in though the white lace sheers over the expansive window. His head throbbed, he stomach absolutely _hated _him, and after a few minutes of burrowing into the bed he realized something important.

He had no clue where he was.

A soft clink was heard near the side of the bed when Axel set a cup of water and a bottle of aspirin down on the nightstand. "You were totally wasted last night. Do you remember anything?"

Roxas reached blindly for the water and painkillers, and didn't open his eyes until he had swallowed three of the aspirin. When he did decide to look around the room it became painfully apparent that things were not as they should be.

"Where the fuck are we?" Roxas asked in shock. The room was huge, impressive in the way bedchambers of royalty are portrayed in history books and documentaries. The walls were painted a light pastel pink color, which was a color Roxas wasn't too keen on, but when combined with ornamental molding, and pieces of artwork hung randomly on the walls, the color was bearable.

The bed he was currently in was just a twin size, but that didn't seem to do it any justice. Comfortable didn't even begin to describe the experience of a bed like that! The pillows were feather, the ivory colored duvet was down filled, and the sheets were Egyptian cotton.

The furniture was even remarkable. Antique from the looks of it.

Axel sat down on the edge of the bed and chose his next words _very carefully. _"Not where you probably think we are." He laughed nervously. "You see Rox, Demyx and I got this…idea."

"Oh God."

"And we thought it might be nice to, well, splurge for once."

"Don't tell me."

"And you were drunk, so we couldn't ask you." Axel pointed out for leverage in his already failed argument.

"Axel, where are we?"

"Now keep an open mind Roxas! Remember, this is a _vacation. _It's okay to do stupid shit…"

"Just tell me where I am!"

"Well," Axel said getting up from the bed and walking towards the door leading out. "The general region is Northumberland. We're in Chillingham Castle." And he booted it out the door.

"WHAT!"

Chillingham Castle? Northumberland? Roxas let the words roll over him like storm clouds drifting in a summer sky. He knew Northumberland was up north. Way up north. Way the hell up where Hadrian's Wall was, where you could practically _see _Scotland.

Way up where he shouldn't be. Where his itinerary curled up and became useless. Where he didn't know one town from the next. _'Where', _He thought, _'I'm stuck with the two biggest morons to ever walk the planet.'_

And since he admittedly knew next to nothing about Northumberland, it seemed strange that Chillingham Castle seemed familiar to him. He couldn't remember where, but he was certain he must have heard about it once.

But he would figure that out later. He had more important things to attend to – killing Axel and Demyx for starters.

He pushed back the covers in one movement, and sat up, immediately regretting the action as the throbbing pain of his head ache doubled.

"Fuck." Stumbling away from his bed, he sought out the two responsible for his current departure to no-mans-land. Revenge would be his, it wouldn't solve his problem, but oh how it would feel good.

"Axel. Oh Axel." He called out, leaving the little room with its two twin beds behind and striking out in search of his first victim.

The next room was a heavily decorated sitting area. Sofas and comfortable looking upholstered chairs were dotted around the room, all facing around coffee table in the center. There was a large fireplace in the far wall, complete with traditional brickwork and an eye-catching mantelpiece that would make any homeowner jealous. Roxas couldn't even begin to imagine what it was costing to stay there, probably half his trip money – or worse.

The sounds of muffled voices could be heard coming from the next room. Roxas grinned. It was going to be a piece of cake. A quick jab with a knife and he'd be out of England before mid-afternoon. Nobody would have to know.

Roxas tip-toed quietly up to the closed wooden door, his hand grasping the knob tightly. He held his breath and flung upon the door with as much force as he could muster, intent on killing both Axel and Demyx, or at the very least giving them a strong piece of his mind.

"Huh?" He mumbled, and turned on the light switch just to be sure. He had entered a tiny bathroom, comprised of a toilet, tiny sink, and bathtub. "Uh, Guys?"

Roxas stepped fully into the room just to be certain that he was indeed alone, and looked around the corner of the sink for somebody hiding. There wasn't anyone.

"Well that's weird."

Stepping out and switching off the light, Roxas retraced his steps back into the room he had awoken in and sat back down on the twin bed. On the floor at his feet he noticed his backpack, and was suddenly glad it wasn't forgotten during the drunken antics of the previous night.

The sound of footsteps echoed from outside the door to the room, and Roxas looked up to see Axel and Demyx peeking timidly around from the other side of the door.

Demyx was the first to brave speaking to the irate blond. "So, are you calm yet?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Aw, I was hoping you would have forgotten to be mad by now." Demyx shrugged lightly and walked into the room, sitting on the bed across from Roxas. Axel remained at the door, but at least took a few steps forward, before leaning against the wall with his arms folded and a smirk on his face.

"I can't believe you would drag me up here!" Was the snappish response. "You actually thought I would be okay with this? Did you?"

Axel let out a long sigh and walked over to the bed, taking a seat beside Demyx. "Truthfully, no. No I didn't think you would be okay with the idea, but here we are anyways." He admitted, in a rather subdued tone, which Roxas had never before heard from the fiery redhead before.

"We're really sorry Roxas." Demyx added, rather lamely in the other blond's opinion. "We thought," he gestured over at Axel to include him on the blame, "well we figured you might actually like it up here. The castle is pretty cool after all. Twelfth century I think, if I remember right." He paused, stretching and standing up.

"C'mon, give it a shot! We're you really planning on spending all this time in Europe without even spending the night in one castle?"

"Actually Demyx, that was exactly what my plan was." Roxas stood up abruptly and leveled his gaze at the other two. "Now I think I'm going to go wander around, since I'm apparently stuck here thanks to you two." He stomped off towards the door before turning around suddenly and glaring. "Oh, and that stunt you pulled with the whispering earlier was really funny. Totally mature and all."

Both of the accused turned to look at each other quizzically, but before they could comment Roxas had already left the room.

The wandering about that Roxas had planned on turned into an epic tour. The first hour had gone by fairly quickly, the speed of which he was actually shocked. It hadn't _seemed _like he'd been gone very long. In fact, he could have sworn it had only been about fifteen minutes.

There was just something about Chillingham Castle that made the time slip away and vanish without a trace. The place was timeless. The stone work and tapestries reminded Roxas of all the fairytales he was told as a child before bed. Tales that involved knights and wars, dragons and ghosts. The stuff that medieval legends were made of, that was what Chillingham Castle seemed to live and breathe.

Not to say it wasn't a spooky place. Roxas found the place to be downright dark and foreboding in a lot of sections. The air would be a little too chilly, the hallways a little to dark, and Roxas would fight to not turn tale and head back to his room – that was if he could even find it again.

It wasn't until he had made several wrong turns, and gone down a set of stairs that the truth started to set in. He was lost.

Of all the places to become lost! He cursed himself for his own reckless stupidity. If he had just decided to take someone with him, namely Axel or Demyx, then he wouldn't be in this mess. Or better yet, he could have stayed put in his room!

The corridor he was standing in was narrower then all the others he had walked through. Light was pouring in from the small high-set windows and spilling across the floor like so many brightly lit puddles. The only other source of illumination was coming from a few lights positioned at either end of the hallway, not that they were very bright.

Roxas paused once halfway across the room. It was a toss-up. Walk further or stay put? Either way he was still lost, so he chanced getting further away from his room in the name of exploring.

At the end of the corridor was another connecting hallway that ran both left and right. It was at the end of the left fork that Roxas found his ticket out – another person.

"Hey!" Roxas ran to meet up with the woman. "Hey wait up!"

She continued walking away from him. Before he could catch up, she had already turned the corner at the end of the hall.

"I thought I told you to wait for me? What's your probl- …huh?"

The room at the end of the hall was empty. A feeling of cold dread filled him when he noticed one terribly obvious fact: the only way in or out of the room was the way he had just come from.

"Hello?" His voice was a little too high, a little too squeaky for his masculine pride. He swallowed and tried again, feeling more than a little moronic.

"Is anyone in here?"

The only answer was a soft echo of his own nervous voice reverberating off the near empty room. Aside from a few paintings hung at random intervals around the room, and a sofa and chair set the room was otherwise vacant.

The little dome-shaped light fixture in the center of the ceiling flickered once and then blinked out, plunging the whole place into darkness.

Roxas gave way to panic. He turned, and ran back the way he came, back towards the only light source in the area. Running as fast as he could, he quickly made his way out into the hallway and barreled around the corner at break neck speed.

Head long into Axel.

Roxas made contact with the redhead's chest and sent Axel staggering backwards, both very nearly falling over. "What's the rush?"

"You remember how to get back to the room, right?" Roxas questioned, out of breath and already dragging Axel along by the wrist. Further and further away from where Roxas had just come from.

"Well yeah…what's wrong?" Axel tugged Roxas to a stop, and turned to face the anxious blond. When Roxas wouldn't make eye contact, Axel reached out and cupped his hand under Roxas' chin, making the other meet his inquisitive gaze. What he saw startled him.

"Jesus kid, you look like you've seen a ghost!" Roxas looked to be on the verge of shock or hysteria, which one of the two Axel was not certain.

"I…" He started in a hoarse whisper. "Look I just – I don't know what I saw, okay?

Later, when the overwhelming shock and sense of dread had passed away, leaving behind only uncertainty, Roxas recounted what had happened.

"Roxie you saw a freaking ghost! That's awesome!" Out of the three of them, it was Demyx who was most enthralled with the notion of the undead in their midst.

Roxas slumped back onto his twin bed heavily, and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Look I told you, I don't know if it even was a ghost."

"Well what else could it be?" Demyx inquired lightly. "I mean, this is 'Chillingham Castle' after all". He used air quotes upon mentioning their present location, and it caused Roxas to sit up suddenly.

"That's it!" The young blond exclaimed loudly, causing both Axel and Demyx to stare.

Roxas paid them no heed and continued. "That's why the name of this place seemed so familiar – I _have_ heard about Chillingham Castle before, I just forgot about it. It was featured on one of those lame late-night shows about haunted places and whatnot! My brother always watches those damn things, I don't know why, but I remember there was an episode on this place."

Sure it had been a few years previous when he had seen the feature on the old castle, heard the stories about it's supposed undead 'tenants', but he could still recall watching something about the creepy location.

His brother Sora may have loved watching a good ghost story on TV with the lights turned off on a Friday night, but that didn't mean he wasn't a pathetic pile of quivering goo as soon as things got remotely spooky. That was the reason Roxas had spent so many evenings parked on the couch, popcorn in hand and blanket pulled up – simply put; his brother needed the company or he never would have been able to sleep afterwards.

"Well duh!" Demxy gave Roxas a look that clearly meant he knew all about Chillingham's notoriety. "Really I thought you already knew, otherwise I would have told you beforehand!" He went to his bag and pulled out a camera. "Isn't this awesome though, I mean, we can go ghost hunting tonight!"

If Roxas could compile a list of things he'd rather not do, ghost hunting would have been right near the top. It was up there with stabbing himself in the face with a spork and becoming a transvestite prostitute.

Axel gave a laugh. "You sure about that Demyx, you don't strike me as the type to handle the whole 'let's go looking for dead people thing' all that well. Not that I'm calling you a pussy or anything…" He grinned, "Well actually I guess I'm calling you just that."

"Axel you suck."

"Actually," Roxas spook up from his lounge on the little bed, "you both suck. You do realize that ghost hunting could be the dumbest idea either of you have had yet, right? Couple that with the fact that you're both damn near retarded and you better believe it's a stupid idea."

He stood up and walked over to the large window facing out towards the laneway leading in to the castle. "In fact I'd almost consider it on par with staying here in the first place, almost but not quite."

Outside a lone gardener was busy trimming up a few hedges down below the window. He looked up at Roxas briefly, his weathered face cracking the smallest of smiles before turning back at the task at hand. Roxas half envied the old man. He was outside in the sun, or perhaps closer to the crux of the matter, he wasn't _inside. _Not stuck in a castle with a couple of idiots and the possibility of the undead wandering around every nook and cranny.

Despite protests, logic, and threat of death, it was decided with a majority vote that they would go 'ghost hunting' as soon as it was late enough. Roxas swallowed his pride and common sense, deciding to humor the other two, and wait for them to see reason, or something dead, whatever came first.

In the meantime Roxas showered, glad to be rid of the feeling and smell of too much alcohol from the night before. Afterwards he wasted a few hours leafing through a couple of books on local history that were left on the shelves in their rooms. Demyx and Axel peering over his shoulder every few minutes whenever they weren't too deep in discussion about the plans for that night. Although from the snippets of conversation Roxas has listened in on, their 'plans' consisted of nothing more than picking a direction and walking.

At ten pm they each grabbed a flashlight and camera, ready to face whatever the castle had to throw at them – or so they thought.

**A/N: **_Well let me first clear up a few things. _

_I chose Chillingham Castle, not because it is by any means an ideal castle to have used (the location IS way up near Scotland, and it more often then not seems to be a bit of a tourist trap), but because it is so well known as a 'haunted' castle. Since it has been on so many different shows, and received mention in lots of different books, I figured it would be a castle that a lot of people would be familiar with. _

_Well until next time, love, peace, and REVIEWS!_

_Laterness! Athenian Affinity_


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